The attacks were allegedly carried out after months of
preparations on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant, which is a merger between Al-Qaeda’s affiliates in Syria
and Iraq.

Between 500 to 1,000 prisoners have escaped as a result of the
attack, “most of them were convicted senior members of
Al-Qaeda and had received death sentences," said Hakim
Zamili, a senior member of the security and defense committee in
parliament.

Suicide bombers drove cars with explosives into the gates of the
prison on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday night, while gunmen
attacked guards with mortar fire as well as rocket propelled
grenades.

Other militants held the main road, fighting off security
reinforcements sent from Baghdad, as several insurgents wearing
suicide vests entered Abu Ghraib on foot to help free the
inmates.

Ten policemen and four militants were killed in the fighting,
which continued until early Monday, when military helicopters
arrived to help regain control.

By that time, hundreds of inmates had succeeded in fleeing Abu
Ghraib. The security forces arrested some of them, the rest are
still free, Zamili commented.

“It's obviously a terrorist attack carried out by Al-Qaeda to
free convicted terrorists with Al-Qaeda,” another security
official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Jihadist accounts on Twitter claimed that not 500, but thousands
of prisoners had escaped from the detention facility. A number of
users also posted similar claims on the Honein jihadist forum,
AFP news agency reports.

The Abu Ghraib capable of holding around 15,000 inmates has
become notorious a decade ago after photographs showing abuse of
prisoners by US soldiers were made available to the public.

A simultaneous attack on another prison, in Taji, to the north of
Baghdad, had a similar scheme, but guards prevented a break-out.
16 soldiers and six militants were killed there.

The attacks on the tow prisons came a year after Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi
front group announced that it would be targeting the country’s
justice system.

“The first priority in this is releasing Muslim prisoners
everywhere, and chasing and eliminating judges and investigators
and their guards,” said an audio message attributed to the
group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in July 2012.

Sunni rebels, including Al-Qaeda-affiliated, have been gaining
strength and regularly striking Shiite Muslims and security
forces. The violence has increased fears of a return to conflict
in the country.

But ultimately, Flounders concludes that the international
audience shouldn’t be surprised at the news, because Western
efforts in Iraq have not shown any signs of addressing the actual
spread of sectarian violence in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam
Hussein. In the city of Mosul to the north of Baghdad, a suicide
bomber detonated a vehicle with explosives behind a military
convoy, killing at least 22 soldiers and three passers-by, police
reported.

Recent attacks have targeted mosques, football matches, shopping
areas and cafes where people meet after breaking the daily fast
for the holy month of Ramadan.

However, despite widespread claims that the escapees are largely
affiliated with Al-Qaeda, there is no way of knowing, says Sara
Flounders, head of the International Action Center. She also told
RT that not much is known about Abu Ghraib itself after the US
handed over control to the Iraqi government, following its
withdrawal from the country.

“The state of security hasn’t substantially improved since. We
know also there are many operatives left in Iraq that continue US
policy aims. There’s a lot that’s uncertain and unknown today in
Iraq. We do know there was a prison break. But before we rush to
label everyone Al-Qaeda, let’s be aware that Abu Ghraib itself as
a prison was notorious for US torture techniques… it was turned
back over to the Iraqi government and we have no idea if any
conditions improved.”

But ultimately, Flounders concludes that the international
audience shouldn’t be surprised at the news, because Western
efforts in Iraq have not shown any signs of addressing the actual
spread of sectarian violence after the toppling of Saddam
Hussein, while billions of dollars were misspent – an opinion
shared by defense consultant Moeen Raoof.

“The Iraqi government isn’t controlling anything… [It] hasn’t
been spending its oil funds on security… the toppling of Saddam
Hussein was a fatal, fatal mistake,” one that will be repeated in
Afghanistan, after complete US withdrawal, he believes.

Nearly 600 people have been killed in militant attacks across
Iraq so far this month, according to the monitoring group Iraq
Body Count.